Dhokla, steamed savoury chick pea and rice cake

Dhokla, steamed savoury chick pea and rice cake

‘Dhokla’ is a healthy Gujarati breakfast dish and tea time snack, somewhat like the ‘idli’ of south India. There are so many varieties of dhokla – sweet, savoury, with rice, with semolina, fermented, not fermented….you name it!!!  Dhokla is very versatile. You can serve it hot or cold. It is really good right from the refrigerator on a hot summer day. It will freeze well too. This one is the savoury, fermented version with chick pea and rice flours- surely one FOOLPROOF method to get spongy, moist dhokla.

Start early to allow fermentation. If you are making this as breakfast and you are short on time, you can ferment the batter overnight in refrigerator (make the batter, ferment on counter for an hour and refrigerate). But as I said, dhokla is excellent even after refrigerating. You can cook it at night and simply reheat in the morning.

For batter, combine ¼ cup water, yeast and 1 tsp sugar. Let it ferment for 10 minutes. You can omit this and combine all ingredients (except the soda) in one go if you are using instant yeast (and your kitchen is warm). Combine all dry ingredients for batter. Add the yeast- water, butter milk and lemon juice and mix well with a whisk. Add the liquids a little at a time and mix to avoid lumps. Cover and let the batter double. This might take 1-2 hours.

Oil a cake pan or any plate with a raised rim. The diameter of the pan should be about 5-7 inches. If it is bigger, dhokla will be flat. Set a steamer pot with 2 to 4 inch water on medium high heat.  Or you can use a soup pot with an inverted shallow bowl or a muffin ring. The bowl or ring keeps the dhokla plate raised to prevent burning. As the water comes to a boil, get the batter ready. Divide the batter into two portions. Add ¼ heaped spoon of baking soda to one portion. Give a quick mix, it should really froth up. Pour into the oiled pan. Place the pan in the pot. Cover the pot and steam for 10- 15 minutes. Dhokla is done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes and invert to a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, reduce heat and add cumin seeds followed by curry leaves and green chillies. Take the pan off heat and add the asafoetida. Let the tempering cool a bit and pour over the dhokla. Cut into squares and serve with coriander chutney.